Biographies

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Barfield: John, Samuel & Sarah

Relationship To House
John Barfield was the owner of ‘Cottages and Garden’ from around 1800 until his death in 1851. Probably responsible for replacing ground floor timber frame with brick walls.

Sarah Barfield was the wife of John and owned the property, following his death in 1851, until she transferred it to Samuel in 1864.

Samuel Barfield owned the property from 1864 until 1877.

Biography
John Barfield was a wealthy Thatcham resident. He was the third of nine children of Samual Barfield and Mary (nee Sanders). He was baptized at Mildenhall, Suffolk, on 20th November 1772. The Barfield family moved to Berkshire when John’s father was appointed as excise officer to the Aldermaston ‘ride’ (district). By 1795 John was in practice as a solicitor in Thatcham and possibly lived in the High Street in a cottage belonging to Mrs Hannah Baily (an aunt of Francis Baily) but later he lived at The Priory (build approx 1800). John was married three times: his first wife was Elizabeth Leach from Suffolk and they were married in 1795. She died in 1819, apparently childless. John then married Mary Summers of Hammersmith early in 1820 but she died in December of that year in childbirth. John’s third wife was Sarah Brooke, whom he had married by 1826. There were five children from this third marriage – Marion, John (junior), Amelia, Samuel and Edward.

In 1798, when Britain was under the threat of an invasion from revolutionary France, John Barfield took an active part in the formation of a Thatcham Corps of the Berkshire Yeomanry Cavalry. The only active service seen by the Thatcham Volunteers was in June 1800 when they were called upon to disperse a large crowd of people who were protesting in Thatcham about the high cost of food. In 1808 he was served with a notice requiring him to appear at the Town Hall, Reading, to take the oath and to be enrolled in the Millitia at Thatcham for five years or to provide a substitute.

John was a member of the Newbury Independent (Congregational) Church but in 1800 independent (dissenting) services were begun in a private house in Thatcham and this attracted his interest. In 1803 the cottage owned by Mrs Hannah Baily and in John Barfield’s possession was being used for dissenting services and by the end of that year John Barfield had probably made the arrangements to purchase bricks from Dunston House for the building of an Independent Chapel (United Reformed Church) in Church Lane in 1804. The site for this and much of the money for materials and construction was provided by Mr Barfield himself. In 1821 he drew up a trust deed which left Ł1000 on his death to remain invested for the benefit of the officiating minister. It was also John Barfield who instituted proceedings in 1844 to set up the British School in Church Lane. His wife, Sarah, worked hard raising money for the project.

John died in 1851 while still residing at The Priory with Sarah (thirty years his younger). He was seventy-eight years old. There is a wall monument in memory of him on the northern wall of the United Reformed Church. He is buried beneath the church. John was not only a material benefactor to Thatcham; he also collected and retained many local documents, which became the property of his son, Samuel.

Samuel Barfield was baptized in Thatcham on 31st March 1829. He was educated at University College School in London and followed his father into the legal profession, being admitted as a solicitor in 1850. It appears he gained some practical experience in Thatcham before taking up a post at Austin Friars in the City of London. In 1865 he moved to the Temple where he remained in practice with Edmund T Child until his retirement. In 1867 Samuel married Isabel Charlotte Martin and they set up home at 67 Porchester Terrace, Paddington. Although he lived in London, Samuel retained a warm affection for his birthplace and visited the village whenever he could; after his mother died he lodged on such occasions with Mrs Annie Wheeler in the Broadway.

Samuel was very much interested in history. One of his particular pursuits was archaeology and he was especially interested in tracing the course of the Roman road through Thatcham. Much of his spare time appears to have been spent in the study of old things, especially documents. He worked on a book titled ‘Thatcham, Berks, And Its Manors’ which was published in 1901 after his death on 18th October 1899, aged seventy. Isabel Barfield died in March 1901.

Blyth: Maurice McAuslance, Phillip Gledstanes & Reginald Herbert

Relationship To House
Owned the property for a brief period in 1919.

Biography
Maurice’s address listed as 6 New Court, Lincolns Inn, London.

Phillip’s address listed as Resthaven, Woodside Road, Woodford Green.

Reginald’s address listed as 6 New Court, Lincolns Inn, London.

Brown: Arthur

Relationship To House
Purchased the property in 1923 when it was reported to be a single cottage and unoccupied. Whether he lived there or rented it out and when he sold it is unknown.

Biography
Appears to be a wealthy businessman in the local area.

In 1921 he gave Turnfield (Chapel Street) to Thatcham Parish as a children’s playground.

In 1935 a church parlour, in memory of Arthur Brown of the woodturning firm was built at the United Reformed Church.

Broxley (Widow)

Relationship To House
Resident in 1864 when cottages transferred to Samuel Barfield.

Carter

Relationship To House
Resident in 1864 when cottages transferred to Samuel Barfield.

Chamberlaine: Rev. Edward

Relationship To House
Rented two rooms in the cottage (one upstairs, one downstairs directly to the left of the front door) plus stable building and meadow in 1924.

Biography
Address listed as The Vicarage, Thatcham.

Presumably Vicar at St. Mary’s Church?

Clarke: Richard

Relationship to House
Listed as part of an agreement in 1728 for leasehold of the property.

Biography
Possibly resident of Bradfield, employed as a Husbandman.

Cochrane: Robert Peter & Denise Marjorie

Relationship To House
Owners from 1960 until 1986.

Biography
Robert Cochrane was born in Wimbledon, attended Rutlish Grammer School in Merton and served in the Fleet Air Arm at the end of the Second World War. He studied at the Brixton School of Building and qualified as a construction engineer. Robert met Denise Brown (daughter of A B Vincent Brown) when she was working at Wimbledon. They were married in 1951 at the United Reformed Church in Thatcham and went to live and work in the Cameroons, West Africa.

Robert (or Bob as he was more usually known) and Denise returned with their three children (Gerald, Ann and Richard) to Thatcham in 1960 and lived in Church Lane at Monks Chambers. Bob soon became involved in local politics and served on the Parish Council from 1961 until his death at the age of fourty-five in October 1972 after a serious illness. He was also elected to be the Berkshire County Councillor for Thatcham in 1964 as a Liberal and in 1967 as an Independent. He stood again in 1970 as an Independent but was one of the losers in that election. One of his interests was that of education and he served on the Newbury Divisional Executive from 1965. He was also a governor of Kennet School and a manager of Dunston Park School as well as being the parish Council’s representative on the Thatcham Area Evening Institute of Education.

After working as a construction engineer locally Bob gave up his job in 1968 to train as a probation officer. He took an eighteen-month course in London and then worked as a probation officer at Basingstoke and Newbury.

Between 1969 and 1986 the Cochrane’s sold off parts of The Little Meadow to allow building of new houses. Mrs Cochrane now lives in the newest house, adjacent to Monks Chambers.

Crosthwaite: Dorothy Eyre & John Symons

Personal Details
Dorothy’s parents were George Edward Briscoe Eyre and Mary Mildred Richards.

Relationship To House
Owned the cottage from 1919 until 1923.

Biography
A famous resident of the New Forest.

Parents of Sir Oliver Crosthwaite-Eyre MP.

Address listed as Chanters House, Pilton, Somerset

John was a Major in the Indian Army.

Biographies

Adkins: William Henry

Atkinson: Arthur Haslehurst

Barfield: John, Samuel & Sarah

Blyth: Maurice McAuslance, Phillip Gledstanes & Reginald Herbert

Brown: Arthur

Broxley (Widow)

Carter

Chamberlaine: Rev. Edward

Clarke: Richard

Cochrane: Robert Peter & Denise Marjorie

Crosthwaite: Dorothy Eyre & John Symons

Duckett (Widow)

Farmer: Yvonne

Harper: John

Harris

Hodges: Ann

King: Charles Philip, Marianne, Sarah Beard & William George

Latter: John

Martin, Lynn Joanne

Murray: David James & Pauline Jane

Newnham: Frederick George & Henrietta Rachel Cunningham

Phipps: Stan & Micky

Rickarby: Arthur

Rogers: Charles Frederick

Turner: Christopher Dennis

White: Richard

Worthy